Saturday, November 13, 2010

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Balloon head dolphin

P. hoekmani (image from the Beeb article)


Archeologists have discovered the fossilized remains of a new type of dolphin on the bottom of the North Sea. The dolphin, christened Platalearostrum hoekmani after the Dutch fisherman Albert Hoekman, who trawled up a bone from the beastie's skull in 2008, seems to be most closely related to the modern-day pilot whale and probably lived between 2 and 3 million years ago. It had a bulbous forehead and a short, "spoon-shaped" rostrum (snout) and would have grown up to 6 meters long.


Pilot whale (G. melas)